I was saddened to read recently that brontosauruses never actually existed. Not only does that mean that one of the toys of my childhood was mischristened, it also means that there is no creature called a thunder lizard, and I think that’s a shame. You see, sauros was just …
Alphonse Allais (20 October 1854 – 28 October 1905) was a French writer, humorist and painter. In 1883 Alphonse Allais exhibited a painting called First Communion of Anaemic Young Girls In The Snow, which was of course a white canvas. Allais’ painting was the companion piece to his Apopleptic …
Despite his status as one of England`s best loved poets, it appears that Alfred Lord Tennyson was in fact a festive grump. This is from his “In Memoriam A.H.H.” written in 1849 With trembling fingers did we weave The holly round the Chrismas hearth; A rainy cloud possess’d the …
When Samuel Beckett lived briefly in Berlin, his regular haunt was a restaurant called the Giraffe. While sitting there one day after finishing his meal, he was asked by his waiter “Why is there no expression of hope in your work?” After a trademark Beckett silence, he picked up …
You may not be aware, but the acclaimed author of Ulysses was also an unashamed underwear fetishist. He was aroused by just looking at his wife Norah`s knickers and insisted she left them around the house. Not content with keeping his peccadilloes private, he was also in the habit of …
Gaius Valerius Catullus came from a well-to-do family in Verona, Italy, and owned a villa himself near fashionable Tivoli, but as a young man soon settled into a decadent life in Rome. As a poet in training, he idled with other ink-stained scriveners and lowlifes, striving to integrate a …
According to a Dr Jennifer Batt, a dirty poem has recently been discovered by John Milton within the pages of the “Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany” published in 1708. It was to quote the good doctor ” written by witty young men about town for witty young men about town”. …
The internet is truly a wonderful thing. I came across a most peculiar book – The Early Civilization of China by an Arthur Coterill. In it he tells a rather odd story. “A most distinguished scholar died and found himself standing before the King of the Underworld. When the monarch accidentally …
During the 18th century, Ambrose Philips was a fellow of St Johns College, Cambridge, and in addition gained some recognition as a poet. But his poetic style and political affiliations (he was a Whig) incurred the wrath of the musician and poet Henry Carey (who wrote ‘Sally in our Alley’ and was possibly …
During the mid 19th century Letitia Elizabeth Landon ( 1802-1838 ) was the most widely read woman of her day. A hybrid of Agatha Christie and Enid Blyton she managed to write some very successful novels, children stories, short stories and even found time to pen a few plays …
